![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/578909b8a1b9712aeea3734beffacdbf.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA former teacher accused of sexually abusing a student has told a court he is “ashamed of my behaviour at that time” and says he was “temporarily blinded”.<\/p>\n
Stephen Fane Noga, 76, is being sued by one of his former Hobart Matriculation College students, now aged in her 60s, over allegations of repeated sexual abuse in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
The plaintiff is also suing the State of Tasmania for allegedly failing in its duty of care.<\/p>\n
Mr Noga has denied the allegations that he sexually abused her while she was his 16-year-old student.<\/p>\n
He has said that they had sex twice in the months after she graduated, once she had turned 17, and that their relationship rekindled five years later.<\/p>\n
Sexual assault support services:Other helplines:<\/p>\n
On Friday last week, Mr Noga was examined by his own counsel, Chris Gunson SC, in the Supreme Court in Hobart.<\/p>\n
He said he never forced himself on the plaintiff when they did engage in sexual activity, and she was never unwilling to have sex.<\/p>\n
“In all my sexual experiences over the years with [her], a keyword would be enthusiasm,” he said.<\/p>\n
He told the court that the allegations that they had sex during and after school hours, on school premises, in his car, and in her car, were all incorrect.<\/p>\n
Letters shown to court<\/p>\n
Mr Noga was cross-examined by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Bruce McTaggart KC, last week and on Monday.<\/p>\n
Multiple letters that Mr Noga sent the plaintiff, about five years after she graduated, were shown to the court.<\/p>\n
One letter stated that he could not help but be jealous of someone being with her.<\/p>\n
“Of course, I love you and feel like I have proprietary rights,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
In another letter, he stated that she “held so much power” over him.<\/p>\n
“Please don’t hurt me,” his letter stated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stephen Fane Noga pictured outside the Supreme Court in Hobart. (ABC News: Scout Wallen)<\/p>\n
Mr McTaggart asked Mr Noga whether he considered it was appropriate to have a sexual relationship with someone who was 17, a recent student of his, and who was vulnerable.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t see it in that manner at that time,” he told the court.<\/p>\n
“I am ashamed of my behaviour at that time. I was temporarily blinded.”Impact on defendant’s family<\/p>\n
On Monday, Mr Noga told the court that the legal proceedings led to a divorce from his wife.<\/p>\n
“Due to the approaching mediation, I had to fess up,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I told my wife of over 50 years, she very sharply concluded she wanted a divorce, she could no longer live with me.”<\/p>\n
He said he transferred properties to his wife to give her “her due”.<\/p>\n
“I put my family into deep pain, I wasn’t going to fight,” he said.<\/p>\n
While being questioned by his own counsel last week, he was asked to describe the circumstances that led to his relationship with the plaintiff ending, a few months after he said the relationship had rekindled.<\/p>\n
“I was being torn apart by the whole experience, of being besotted with [the plaintiff] and then still loving my wife,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I had three children I loved, I woke up to my responsibilities, I will be torn apart for the rest of my life if I walk away from them and I didn’t want to.<\/p>\n
“[The plaintiff] had a young, bright future in front of her.”<\/p>\n
The trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former teacher accused of sexually abusing a student has told a court he is “ashamed of my…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[256972,64,63,99,256970,253976,30024,256971,30023,1109],"class_list":["post-513377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alleged-sexual-abuse","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-hobart-matriculation-college","tag-stephen-fane-noga","tag-student","tag-supreme-court-of-tasmania","tag-teacher","tag-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}